Department Profile:
The Durham/Newcastle Centre for the History of Medicine (DNCHM) unites researchers working in several disciplinary contexts across the two geographically proximate universities. One of the DNCHM's particular strengths is its coverage of the whole Western medical tradition from antiquity until the twentieth century. A further characteristic is its strong interest in the history of medical ideas and the cultural history of medicine (from a comparative perspective), in particular in the epistemological, ethical and historiographical justifications of medical theory and practice offered through time. A related point of common interest is in the history of the communication of medical knowledge to wider audiences.
Faculty Teaching Staff:
Philip J van der Eijk (Newcastle); Andreas-Holger Maehle (Durham); Lutz Sauerteig (Durham);
Research Staff:
Thomas Rütten (Newcastle)
Areas of Expertise:
Ancient, medieval and early-modern medicine; medicine and philosophy; comparative history of medicine in the Eastern Mediterranean; history of medical ethics; medicine and law; animal experimentation; pharmacology; sexuality and the body; venereal disease; public health policy; historiography of medicine; classical, medieval and early modern medicin;
Special Resources:
Durham University Library has up-to-date research collections in History of Medicine and in History and Philosophy of Science, holds all major journals in the field, and houses the Kellett Collection on early modern anatomy and surgery. Newcastle's Robinson Library houses an excellent History of Medicine research collection and has two special collections related to medical history: the Pybus Collection (a rich collection of historical medical works from the 16th century onwards, engravings, letters, portraits and busts), and the Medical Collection (a large collection of 18th- and 19th- century medical works).
